Team Anna's poll threat does raise an issue for EC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi is right in holding that the decision of the anti-corruption crusaders led by Anna Hazare to campaign against the Congress in the upcoming assembly elections would be monitored by the EC as it could raise questions of ethics and propriety. But Mr Quraishi has also done the right thing by pointing out that there is nothing inherently wrong with Team Anna taking up such a position.

His guarded stance is in keeping with the complexity of the matter which pits the issue of free and fair elections against the rights of citizens to take a political position.

As the CEC has said, a lot will depend on how Team Anna conducts its campaign during the polls. For, campaigning against any one party in a system that does not allow the right to reject candidates does work out in favour of the other parties. Given that the model code of conduct is in force at such time, this raises the issue whether the expenses incurred by Team Anna should be taken in isolation or added to the accounts of the other parties.

The fact that Team Anna's posturing has come to be increasingly political in nature is also relevant here. Mr Hazare may claim to be a Gandhian but it has come to light that he worked under Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh veteran Nanaji Deshmukh for many years, with news reports claiming he went to the extent of taking diksha (anointment) from him.

Mr Hazare needs to make his position clear on this issue because there is no mistaking the fact that though his campaign purportedly focuses on corruption, graft in Opposition ruled states seems of no consequence to him before the corruption in Congress regimes.